I am a native English speaker (US) and would like to find a person who speaks High German that wants to improve their English in exchange for helping me learn/improve my German. My German skills are basic.

I'm located in Oberrieden area, so the closer the better but could meet from Zurich to Zug or any place in between. Schedule is somewhat flexible.

Hi, I am Swiss and live in Waedenswil. If you have children it would be perfetct, they could speak English to my children (4 and & years old) so my kids can improve English and I speak German to you.

Why high German? If you live in Switzerland, surely you should learn how to understand the local language.

Michele- sorry no kids, but let me know if it could work otherswise.

Eire- I'm not apposed to learning Swiss German, will do so in due course, but, even my Swiss family said stick with High German at first. I tend to agree as I would like to read newspapers, bills, any written correspondence, and write, and listen to some movies and news in German. About 80% of what I deal with at this stage is High German.

Anyone else out there interested in swaping English for German?

If you can understand Swiss German then reading newspapers and listening to TV/Radio etc will not be a problem. Certainly there will be an issue with writing yourself, but in terms of comprehension it won't be a problem. The advantage is twofold in my opinion.

1. If you purely concentrate on learning high German people tend to get a complex about Swiss German. They think they can speak high Germand and thats fine no reason to learn Swiss German.

2. You will certainly at some point end up having trouble with conversations with locals because, Swiss German is what they speak. I regularly have to deal with people at work who speak Swiss German not high german and don't change just because I am a foreigner.

In my opinion if you learn by immersion you get to learn and understand Swiss German by default anyway. If you only do a high German course then you will ultimatley have problems understanding the local lingo.

I have only done a 1 month high german course, and spent the rest of my time just trying to learn by immersion as a kid does. If I went into shops I forced through with my crap German and tried to start conversations with locals etc. Now I can understand Swiss German reasonably well, I can read the newspaper, I can watch TV and can funtion fairly good in day to day life without people having to make too many allowances for me. My one problem admitidly is with writing and correct sentance structure, but I can communicate without much trouble.

This is just my opinion. We are in a country that speaks a language, if you plan on spendinfg time here you should learn what they speak. In the long run it can make life easier. The differences are not as big as people make out.

Hello...i have no children :-) and i'm working in Horgen, just around the corner from Oberrieden. I'm swiss, but apparently my high german is quite good (that's what my german friends say) - interested?

Sorry for the long delay, busy getting the new year started. Are you still interested? I have to improve my German / Swiss German and would like to organize something with you. I will send you a PM too. Let me know, thanks.

Hey Brett, let's meet, that would be great! . c u